Baal Kaanda
23 - Love's departure on the errand of the gods and his being burnt to death
Chaupais
Description
The minds of all were seized with lust; the boughs of trees bent low at the sight of creepers. Rivers in spate rushed to meet the ocean; lakes and ponds united in love with one another. Where such was reported to be the case with the inanimate creation, who can relate the doings of sentient beings? Beasts that walk on land and birds traversing the air, and water lost all sense of time and became victims of lust. The whole world was blinded with passion and agitated. The Cakravka birds (ruddy geese)* regarded neither day nor night. Gods, demons, human beings, Kinnaras (a class of demigods), serpents, evil spirits, fiends, ghosts and vampiresI have refrained from dwelling on the condition of these, knowing them to be eternal slaves of passion. Even Siddhas (spiritual adepts), great sages who had no attraction for the world and Yogss (mystics) gave up their Yoga (contemplative union with God) under the influence of lust. (1-4)